SANTIAGO, Oct 11 (Reuters) – Chilean state miner Codelco partially suspended operations at its El Teniente mine on Sunday after a landslide left two workers dead while one survived, according to SERNAGEOMIN, the South American country’s mining regulator.
The agency said in a post on X that shortly before 2:00 p.m. local time (1700 GMT), a landslide struck three workers from contractor Aura Ingeniería SA while they were inspecting the south pit sector. One worker was rescued, while the other two, who had been trapped, were later found dead.
“Operations in the south pit sector of the mining operation will be suspended,” SERNAGEOMIN said.
Codelco, one of the world’s largest copper producers, later issued a statement expressing its condolences for the deaths and said Chile’s investigative police and the Public Prosecutor’s Office were at the site carrying out the necessary procedures to help determine the circumstances of the accident.
The company said heavy rainfall in central Chile had triggered the landslide at the mine’s open-pit operation.
“Actions aimed at safeguarding the well-being of the three workers who were in the area at the time of the incident were immediately activated,” it said in a statement.
El Teniente, which has been operating for more than a century, contains more than 4,500 kilometers (2,800 miles) of tunnels and underground galleries in the Andes Mountains, about 75 km southeast of Santiago, the capital.
(Reporting by Fabian Cambero in Santiago; Writing by Sarah Kinosian in Mexico City; Editing by Paul Simao and Thomas Derpinghaus)
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